COUNTY GETTING READY TO OPEN EARLY VOTING ON MONDAY

The equipment has been tested, the workers trained and a dry run is scheduled over the weekend.

Early voting begins Monday at 10 a.m. and continues through Nov. 5, with 20 sites scattered throughout the county and open seven days a week. Election Day is Nov. 7.

Voters will choose Florida's governor and determine the outcome of state and local races. Among them, Republican nominee Charlie Crist, the state's attorney general, faces U.S. Rep. Jim Davis, D-Tampa, in the race to succeed Gov. Jeb Bush. The ballot includes many local referendums, including a proposal for a mass transit sales tax.

Registered Broward voters can go to any of the locations to vote early, unlike Election Day, when people have to vote at designated polling places.

More than half of Broward's 940,000 voters, or 53 percent, are expected to turn out for the gubernatorial election, said Mary Cooney the public service director of the Broward County Supervisor of Elections Office.

"We get a better turnout for a general election than for a primary," Cooney said. "We're looking at [electing] a new governor. That's important to people."

Turnout for the Sept. 5 primary was only 12 percent, Cooney said.

Of the 87,375 people who voted in the primary, 18,144 voted early and 10,551 voted by absentee ballot. Rainy weather may have been one reason for the low turnout, Cooney said.

Thousands of people prefer to keep a paper trail by using an absentee ballot, but early voting seems to be catching on, Cooney said. "We're expecting a good number of voters to vote absentee," Cooney said. "[But] we'll have more early voters than absentee voters."

So far, 35,000 people have requested absentee ballots. That number will likely increase as the Elections Office continues to take requests for absentee ballots until Nov. 3.

Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4531.

CASTING YOUR BALLOT

WHERE TO GO: Registered Broward County voters can go to any of the designated locations to vote early, unlike Election Day voting, when people must vote at specified neighborhood polling places.

MAKE IT FASTER: Bring your driver's license. Though other forms of ID are accepted, a license is the one that poll workers can process most quickly. Bring a sample ballot, palm card or newspaper listing with your choices marked.

AVOID ERROR: Check the districts on the ballot against a voter information card or sample ballot before pushing the red button to cast a vote. If you suspect an error, summon a poll worker. It's too late if you've already pushed the voting button.

IDENTIFICATION: Voters should bring photo identification that includes a signature. Besides state-issued driver's licenses or ID cards, other accepted forms include passports, employer IDs, buyer's club cards, student IDs and credit cards with photographs. If the photo ID does not contain the voter's signature, another piece of identification with a signature is required. A voter information card, known by many as a voter registration card, isn't required.